My response to the Spring Budget
After 13 years of Tory failure, we needed to see a plan for growth from the government and a plan to tackle the cost of living crisis. Instead, while family incomes and living standards fall to record levels, the Conservatives made it their priority to give a pension tax break to the richest 1%.
Labour will be voting to reverse this handout. We would grow the economy for the benefit of all, not the richest 1%.
The Government should have made the cost of living crisis the priority. Recent polling from 38 Degrees found that 40% of people in our community haven’t been able to afford to turn the heating on, while 26% have missed rent payments in the last six months.
But with growth downgraded, our public services on the floor, and people facing the highest tax burden in 70 years, people in Enfield Southgate are paying the price for more than a decade of economic failure under the Conservatives.
At the same time, it’s clear that Labour is once again winning the battle of ideas. It’s great that the Government is finally talking about childcare, something which has been central to Labour’s plans for years.
However, we need reform now, not a distant promise for 2025. The real test for these policies will be whether they make high-quality childcare more affordable, more available and deliver the economic growth our country needs. That remains to be seen.
In short, people in Enfield Southgate deserve better than yet another Tory budget of sticking plasters. A Labour Government would realise Britain’s huge economic potential by creating good jobs, wealth and sustained growth across every part of the country – making everyone, not just a wealthy few, better off.
